May 2008

Art and Life Collide

Yesterday I blogged about a practical joke you could play if you attended a hypnotist’s stage show. That very afternoon, by a cosmic coincidence, I ended up in the audience of a hypnotist’s stage show. I did not try my prank.

About a month ago, I got a message saying one of my favorite TV shows, “Two and a Half Men,” wanted to make a Dilbert reference in an upcoming episode. They asked for permission, more as a courtesy than a legal requirement, and I used the opportunity to ask if my wife and I could attend a taping. Yesterday we flew down and watched them put the show together. While we were in the audience, between scenes, a comedian entertained us. He was also a hypnotist. The hypnosis part of his act got interrupted because the director was ready for the next scene, but what were the odds I would be in a hypnotist’s audience that same day?

When you watch the episode of Two and a Half Men where Jenny McCarthy guest stars, in about three weeks, listen for my laugh. Microphones hang above the audience to record laughter, and one was directly above me. I wanted to be sure I could hear my laugh on the episode, so I waited for a moment when the rest of the audience was laughing relatively quietly and I let out a good horse laugh of the HAA-HOO-HAA-SNORT variety. You can’t miss it.

The oddest part of the night was having actor Robert Wagner’s head in my crotch area about six times. This might require some explanation. I was in the front row, and the stage is elevated about five feet from the show floor. The people next to me were apparently friends of guest star Robert Wagner, and he kept hanging out on the stage near them, leaning on the audience stage floor, so his head was about two feet from my crotch. It was an uncomfortable feeling. If I looked down, there was my panted penis, and there was Robert Wagner’s giant head. It was wrong on many levels. I tried not to look, but I was only marginally successful.

After the show taped, our host and contact, Lee Lee Baird, took us down to the set to mill around and say hi to stars Charlie Sheen and Jon Cryer, show creator Chuck Lorre, and the excellent staff. Everyone was friendly and gracious and fun to meet. It was surreal chatting with the stars in the living room set where we’ve been watching them on TV for five years. We’re huge fans, so we just got stupid and babbled. People are extra nice when they assume you are mentally challenged, so we had that working for us.

Awesome that you tried to laugh at a moment when you'd be able to hear yourself. I went to a taping of the Craig Kilbourne show, which I then didn't watch on TV. One of my friends caught it and said that he heard both me and my cousin laughing. (It was a very small audience.)

To those who complain about laugh-tracks, I don't think they use laugh-tracks in the same way that they used to. The shows that no longer use them do not tape in front of a studio audience (The Office, Earl, Scrubs, 30 Rock, etc). They are single camera shows, shot like a movie. It was a big deal that Sports Night was forced to use a laugh-track in it's first season despite being a single camera show. They (and subsequent dramadies) were able to ditch the laugh-track in the second season.

Three camera shows (the traditional set up for a sit-com) typically have a studio audience (like 2-1/2 Men) and use the audience's real laughter. I think shows sometimes supplement laughter when the audience didn't laugh as loudly as the writers thought they were going to (or when someone brays like a jackass and calls too much attention to the laughter sounds). But the "good" shows will re-write and re-film the line on the spot to make it funnier (thinking that if the live audience didn't laugh, people at home won't think it's funny either).

Keenan. We Brits hate canned laughter as well. In fact, so much that none of our comedy shows have these tracks as part of the original taping, unless recorded live. Somewhere there is a pointy-headed boss that thinks TV audiences in the US need help in understanding British humour

I laughed so hard at the thought that idiots will actually shell out good money to read these recycled blog posts that I peed out an entire espresso while I was drinking it. Then I ordered another espresso, and damn if it didn't happen again! It's not a book- it's a paper-and-ink diuretic!

Scott's book has enlightened me in ways the Tao never could. I was once a soul caught in samsara seeking nirvana. Since reading this book my spirit has realized the ultimate truth: I like naked women and I am not alone.

The most canned laughter I have ever heard is on those British shows. Don't get me wrong, they have some good ones (Faulty Towers is the best) but everytime there is laughter it all sounds like the same laugh track. Has for years.

I have to wait atleast one or two years for an then current episode to air. Which means when the episode finaly air, I already know everything there's to know. South Park, the smartest show ever to be aired on TV, is only at it's sixth season out of eleven. The Simpsons, seventeeth season out of nineteenth. And Two and a Half Men, season two out of four.

According to my calculations, I'll hear you laugh sometime in the year 2010. I never were good at math, but this should be correct.

Atleast I'll be reading "Stick to Drawing Comics, Monkey Brain" in two to three working days. I better keep off the internet until then.

I just can't stand any show -- like Two and a Half Men -- that uses a laugh track. Laugh tracks instantly make any joke unfunny because they make it feel like you need to be reminded to laugh. If you could add a laugh track to Dilbert strips, it would make them less funny than Cathy.

The best comedy shows (in my opinion) have discarded the laugh track entirely, like Scrubs, The Office, My Name is Earl, and the short-lived Arrested Development.

I, too, have tried the 'distinctive laugh' at show tapings. Since I frequently have trouble picking myself out of group photos, though; I wasn't surprised to find that I also could not pick my laugh out of the general merriment.

Never seen 2 1/2 Men. Is it on ESPN or the History Channel? I'll have to ask the ex-Marine if I can use the remote sometime to check it out. Like that would ever happen. Hell, he takes the remote into the bathroom with him during commercials.

I am a fan of the show, so I will have to keep an ear out for your laugh track. That is, of course, except when Jenny McCarthy is on the screen. Did you get to meet her, or did your wife keep her at bay?

Well well, I think coincidences are just... coincidences. Still amusing, though. I think it is interesting, though, that with Jenny McCarthy there (flaming HOT) you'd pay so much attention to Charlie and Robert. Not saying anything about your sexuality, Scott, only pointing out your poor priority selection process. Or was it because your wife was with you? THAT I can understand...

How do you know it Robert Wagner in your crotch did you ask the other members of the audience, they may have all been hypnotised and perhaps thay have all get the feeling that big Rob was in thier crotch area, now they are all telling the same story. That's a good practical joke.

Also this explains why most american comedy shows get laughs they hypnotise the audience into thinking it's good. I always thought it was canned laughter.

"Dilbert is usually funny. Two and a Half Men is only rarely funny, but mostly insipid and unaccountably popular, like Cheers, or Friends, or Will and Grace, or Scrubs.

I guess there's no accounting for taste."

Or, indeed, for sense of humour. You need to humanise, man! :)

Dilbert's humour often seems to be rooted in the differences of understanding between people of different mindsets who have to work in the same company office: those other comedies which you don't relate to are often about the experiences of slightly dysfunctional personalities, and they're usually related in a warm, conversational and rather human style which can be viewed as "insipid", as you put it. Dilbert's 3-panel punchline is more succinct (and way different to write for that I bet) and often based around things which anyone in an engineering background can relate to. I'm a software engineer myself but I find all of these comdedic shows and strips funny. Get in touch with yourself!

Oh, and bravo for taking advantage of the "courtesy" call from the show Mr A, we'll make a schmoozer out of you yet.

However, revealing the stuff that passes through your head is sometimes not a great idea. Thankfully I never think about you as a person (or personality) when I read dilbert. Good job too... I'd get to the third pane and have "heh heh nice one Mr Adams Robert Wagner Penis Pants ARGH...." running through MY head.

Ha! Your story reminds me of when I introduced my (ex) wife to Sting. As a huge fan and musical artist her words were, "I goob de ogg urk". Translated it means "I'm a huge fan" or "Can I blow you?" I was never quite sure which.